Masonry describes two, closely related, entities:
- Structures formed by collections of single units that are bound together by mortar, i.e. a brick wall (hundreds or thousands of individual bricks 'stuck' into one solid wall by the application of mortar).
- The single units themselves are also referred to as 'Masonry' (the most commonly used are brick, stone, marble and granite).
Masonry and walls
In residential buildings, when dealing with Masonry, we are generally dealing with walls. The advantages of using Masonry to construct walls are numerous:
- It is very durable
- It is weather resistant
- It helps maintain internal temperature
- It does not need to be painted
- It does not catch fire easily